11/14/2004
A 21-year-old man from Mission Viejo died after falling several hundred feet down a mine shaft in the Red Mountain area of San Bernardino, Calif. The victim was riding motorcycles with a friend. 'He went right into an uncovered hole. The other person was able to grab onto a tiny little bush, which prevented him from sliding down into the shaft,� said an official with the Kern County Sheriff's Department. A search and rescue team from the Barstow area that specializes in mine rescues also had been dispatched to the scene, officials said. Red Mountain is northeast of Kern County's California City, which is located about 80 miles north of downtown Los Angeles (Sources: The Bakersfield Californian and Associated Press)